First impressions aren’t everything when it comes to a football team, but new Nogales High School coach Sebastian Hernandez has liked what he’s seen from his players in their first week of spring practice.

“The talent level is better than I thought when I first took the job,” Hernandez said. “I’m much more optimistic now. I thought there would be less talent judging from their record the past several years.”

Hernandez estimated that the Nobles have 75 players program-wide participating in spring drills. But only 14 of them will be seniors, which means Nogales will be very young.

“The majority of the guys are going to be juniors and sophomores,” Hernandez said. “The most talent is in the younger classes, but the seniors are doing a great job of making everybody work hard.”

Nogales will be switching to Hernandez’s spread offense this season, which should be quite an adventure as the Nobles transition from running the wing.

Quarterback Keith Bolden, a junior-to-be, has opened eyes thus far. Bolden has the lead in the competition to be the next signal caller. If he wins the job, Hernandez thinks receiver Errol Romny will be his favorite target.

The Nobles have some size on both lines, something Hernandez thinks might be a strength led by junior-to-be Jaime Salazar, a wrestler who is 6-foot-3, 275 pounds and bench presses over 300 pounds. Hernandez expects Genaro Acosta to add to the line’s strength.

“We’re working a great deal on leadership and responsibility,” Hernandez said. “They’re taking to it. There’s some good talent here, but it’s raw talent. They’re fired up.”

Charter Oak’s Gibas impresses

at long-snapping competition

Charter Oak long snapper Tanner Gibas won the National Kicking and Snapping Spring Event put on by Chris Sailer Kicking/Rubio Long Snapping in Las Vegas last weekend.

Gibas, who is also expected to start at linebacker for the Chargers, beat out 79 other long snappers from 40 states to take home the prize. His time, from first movement to ball arriving at the punter, was .68 seconds.

“It’s an absolute rocket,” event co-organizer Chris Rubio said. “Put it this way, you would like to have anything under .77 and a pro snap is usually .75. He just has to control it. If he continues to work, there’s no reason he won’t advance.”

The news of Gibas’ win was especially pleasing for Chargers coach Lou Farrar, who has always taken pride in the Chargers’ special teams.

“I’ve always been concerned about special teams,” Farrar said.

“Some coaches give lip service about special teams, but they don’t really do anything about it. For me, it’s always a big thing. It’s the first thing we do at practice.”

Former Damien standout Hile now an assistant at Workman

Anthony Hile, a Tribune All-Area linebacker in 2006 while at Damien, has joined Scott Morrison’s staff at Workman as a linebackers coach.

Hile was also first-team All-CIF and Defensive MVP of the Sierra League in ’06. He played under Morrison during his varsity career.